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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Stuffed Zucchini with Mushrooms, Brown Rice, and Tomatoes

My mother-in-law gave us a huge zucchini from her garden. Right away I thought, “I’ll fill that.” In the past, I filled zucchini with different meat fillings, but I wanted to do something different this time and use the veggies that I had around.

Stuffed Zucchini with Mushrooms, Brown Rice, and Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 large zucchini

5 ounces mushrooms, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced

3/4 cup brown rice, cooked

1 egg (not pictured above)

Tomato sauce, about 1 cup

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese, about 1/4 cup

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Olive oil

Tip: If you have a little helper, make sure he doesn’t eat all your cheese. I had to refill it 3 times!!!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat the bottom of a casserole dish with tomato sauce.

Cut zucchini in half and take out the middle with a spoon, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put into the casserole dish.

Spray a sauté pan with olive oil and add the mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions. Sauté for a few minutes.

Add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes.

Add the cooked rice to the pan. [Great way to use leftover rice or other grains.]

Season with salt and pepper.

Let the mixture cool and then add the egg.

Fill the zucchini halves with the filling.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for about 50 – 55 minutes. [While baking, coat the outside of the zucchini with the tomato sauce a few times so that the zucchini cooks evenly and doesn’t get dry.]

Cook and prep time: 1.25 hours
Servings: About 4

We all really enjoyed this dish (and hubby actually surprised me by saying he liked it just as much as the eggplant casserole). I think it’s a great dish for someone who is trying to eat less meat (or trying to introduce others to eating less meat). The mushroom/rice filling is very hearty, and if you are used to zucchini filled with meat, you really won’t miss the meat in this dish. Well, at least we don’t.

Questions: Do you like zucchini? What’s your favorite zucchini recipe? Feel free to link in the comments.

22 comments:

Classic! What if you have an adult helper who also loves to eat the cheese (aka ME!). I've been really into cheese, of all types, lately.This recipe sounds like a real winner. I do love zucchini, but I'm never actually stuffed it before. I'm posting a zucchini roll-up recipe soon and so far that has to be one of my favorite zucchini recipes.

oh Andrea, you always create dishes that makes me want to go to your home and eat with you. Tomatoes, cheese and zucchini can't go wrong, but you just assembled them in a perfect way!I love zucchini, in all forms! I'm craving some zucchini noodles now! :)

Yum! Love this dish. I want to make it today- just need some marinara first :-). I have to say that while I don't LOVE zucchini, I really do like it. I have a yummy grilled polenta with veggies ( Inc zucchini) on my blog that's realty delish. Glad your husband and son liked the stuffed zucchini too!

That zucchini was huge! I like it diced and lightly sauteed with a little olive oil, fresh garlic, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Delicious! My second choice is zucchini bread-but that's not nearly as healthy!

First of all, that zucchini is enormous! I don't think I've ever seen one so big, and I've seen a few whoppers in my time. I've never actually tried stuffed zucchini before, but it seems like a brilliant idea. Stuffing it with rice and veggies and cheese like you did sounds even tastier than stuffing it with meat :)

I had to laugh when you wrote about your "little helper" eating all the cheese - I used to do the exact same thing! Whenever we made tacos when I was growing up, I would volunteer to shred the cheese, half of which would invariable end up in my mouth. I was a sneaky little thing!

I hope you're doing well, Andrea, and that September is treating you well! (P.S. I hope the toddler's hand with the bandaid is ok!)

Love zucchini and this dish you made looks awesome. I think my fave dish is using zucchini like noodles in lasagna. I do it with layers of zucchini and eggplant, with tomatoes, cheese and soy crumbles in between.